Page 110 of Tainted Ties

I joined her, squealing. “I amsoexcited! You’re staying the whole summer, you hear me?”

“You’re so dramatic, but yes, I hear you.”

“I’m swooning.”

“Oh, shut up.”

My best friend visiting me the whole summer was exactly what I needed.

Being without her after not spending a day apart was harrowing and that was putting it lightly.

The door of my home office creaked open, my attention diverting from my best friend.

“And that’s my cue to go.”

Turning back to the screen, I huffed. “You don’t even know who it is.”

“With the way your face glowed, there’s only one person I know who could have that effect on you.”

My cheeks burst with heat at her observation.

Immediately, I lifted my gaze back to the source of my “glow.”

He looked devastating.

Dressed in all black as usual, shirt stretching deliciously against his chest from his crossed arms, he waited for me to end the call.

“Hi, Roman!” Irina called out.

My husband drew closer to me, rounding the desk before standing behind me. He bent low, one hand resting on the desk and the other on my chair.

His hovering awakened goosebumps to rise on my skin.

This reaction to him would never cease. Even when I had hated him, I wanted him.

“Always a pleasure, Irina.”

“It is when that dog of yours isn’t present,” she sneered. “Hopefully, he’s learned not to answer other people’s phones.”

I arched a brow, eyeing the two of them. “What exactly are we talking about?”

“Goodbye, Irina.” And with that, Roman shut my laptop.

He turned my chair, hands resting on the armrests. “Are you finished with work?”

“Not until you tell me what Irina meant.”

Who was the dog, and why would they need to learn not to answer other people’s phones?

“Luca.”

“Luca?”

“Luca,” he repeated with feigned astonishment.

There was a whole conversation to be had about that later. Right now, the smell of sandalwood and mint engulfed me, heightening my nerve endings.

Roman and I hadn’t been intimate in almost a month, and I knew it was because of his fear of hurting me.

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